Robert Fisk interview

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

TONY JONES: Jihadist extremism has spawned countless suicide terrorists from New York to London, from Baghdad to Bali. How do you stop them without generating a general conflict between Islam and the West?

ROBERT FISK: Well, I don't think this is a question of intelligence agencies or draconian legislation. At the end of the day, we've got to say, "Look, these people come from or think they come from a part of the world which clearly has many problems." I'm talking about the Middle East. I mean, after the crimes against humanity of September 11th, 2001, we were discouraged from saying, "Why? Why did this happen?" We knew who did it - in this case, 19 Arabs flying aeroplanes. How did they do it? Planes, box-cutters, tall buildings. But the moment you asked why - in other words, the motive for the crime, which is something any ordinary policeman asks of any crime - you were told merely to ask the question why it was to be pro-terrorist to support the enemies of democracy, etc. But I think we do have to ask the question why, and we have to say, "What has happened in the Middle East to produce an environment from which these people can come?" We are not condoning what they do, the wickedness of bombing innocent people, but we do need to ask, "What's wrong in the Middle East?" and that means dealing with injustices that exist there - injustices which the Australian Government, the British Government, the American Government could deal with or try to deal with if they wish. But I think we're spending far too much time on, you know, mainframe computers, listening to telephones, legislation, than we should be in dealing with actual human problems that exist on the ground. You've just brought up the British. Let's look at the British in Iraq in 1917. We invaded. We announced in a document, which I have hanging on my library wall, "We come here," we said to the Iraqi people in 1917, "not as conquerors, but as liberators to free you from generations of tyranny." Sound familiar? We then had an insurrection in 1920, we bombarded Fallujah, similar to the Americans. We surrounded Najaf, we demanded the surrender of Shi'ite clerics, we said there would be civil war if the British Army left and, indeed, British intelligence in 1920 said that terrorists were crossing the border from Syria. Now, we can go on repeating history endlessly, just as we are now. This is fingerprint parallel history. But at the end of the day, we've got to say, "Hang on a second. There are problems here. How do we deal with them?" And unless we deal with them, we are not going to be safe. By "we", I mean the West, us.

TONY JONES: Alright. Just for a moment I'm putting aside Iraq and indeed the Middle East, because these issues get exported to Muslim countries even like Indonesia. Now, it's much harder to point the finger and say there's a general level of injustice in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world, and yet we've seen now three major bombing efforts directed against the West plus many others against other Indonesians inside Indonesia. How do these things get exported, these grievances, and transplanted into countries where they ought not be?

ROBERT FISK: Well, you say they ought not be. If they are Muslim countries there will be people there with very strong feelings about what is happening in the Middle East, just as, for example, the Pope in the 11th century was very worried about what was happening to Christians in the Middle East and that started the Crusades. Again, we're not condoning the wickedness of killing innocent people and we have to say, "What was Bali? What were the two sets of bombings in Bali? Were they not really an attack on the Australians?" Wasn't July 7th an attack on the British? Of course it was, on the tube train system.

contd:
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2005/s1474704.htm

This being a promotional interview for his new book, The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/184115007X/qid=1128704886/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_11_1/202-1675301-2297450

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. The key to peace

is to listen to all sides in the Middle East and to determine the best way to obtain justice for the most people. There has to be a way.

Murshid S.A.M, an American Sufi master, had a plan for peace he formulated just after World War II. Jerusalem would be a "free city", where people of all faiths would be welcome. It would belong to the world, instead of Israel or Palestine. He had other good ideas, such as exporting seeds and sustainable agriculture, exchanging artists, musicians, etc. etc.

[bloom]

2. It is interesting to notice how the "terrorists" have to be portrayed

as religious extremists who have no reasons to feel provoked by anything the US or other "western" countries are doing.

Of course the media wouldn't want to talk about those reasons. At least the corporate media.

The best media for discussing it is usually something like Democracy Now or the Nation - media that does not support the status quo.

I saw ABC and that seemed odd - but I see it's the "Australian Broadcasting Corporation".

Fisk is a gem.

[neweurope]

3. Hooray for Fisk - one of the best!

----------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[sablefish]

4. Fisk is being blackmailed.

Who really believes 19 Saudi hijackers did 9/11 to us?